Home made mustard is forking easy to make. You can use higher quality more flavorful vinegars and spices to make your unique blend. You can also play with the texture depending on how you cut (excuse the forking bad pun) or blend the mustard.

I studied over a half dozen different recipes posted on the web and forking came up with my own adding some of my own ideas that’s a little more layered with flavors and I like the popping texture of leaving the seeds whole.

Ingredients

5 Tablespoons Mustard Seeds (I only had yellow but a mix of different ones would be interesting. (I do note using all yellow seeds will produce a mild mustard and you do need the darker colors for a more bold mustard flavor.

1 Tablespoon Mustard Powder

1/4 Cup Sherry

1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons (my recipe) Roasted Garlic Spread (Covered Garlic Roasted with a Splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for an Hour and Whipped)

1/4 teaspoon Ground White Pepper

6 crushed Juniper Berries

 

Small pinch of Allspice (be careful with this one)

2 Normal Pinches of Espelette Pepper Powder

Maybe 5 Turns of Fresh Ground Sea Salt

Between 5-10 turns of Fresh Ground Black Pepper

You just forking mix and let sit in the refrigerator a day but two days would be better.

It will look sort of like this.

It takes a day to look like this and is a little on the thin side.

At this point it will thicken up a little more if you can wait another forking day (that’s a total of two days the next day it DID look perfect) or you can blend it up to your liking. Blending will thicken the mustard.

Home Made Mustard it’s Something you might Relish!

 

I was making my “Kicked Up” Version of Polenta. That’s two cups dry polenta, 9 cups usually water but to make it kicked up I used mostly corn stock( 5 cups corn stock 4 cups water , I also creamed in 4 ears of corn. This made a very forking indulgent tasting polenta and seems very rich and creamy and flavor packed. It happened to be also very low fat. Only 2 ounces of forking butter are used in 30 servings.  24 of the around 30 servings it made were turned into Crispy Polenta Cakes that I froze for latter. No other forking fat was used in the Polenta.

After making the 24 polenta cakes the leftover polenta was placed in a tub to set, then placed a lightly oiled pan.

I decided to top my polenta with about 8 ounces of fat free farmers cheese that I seasoned. I like the way this cheese holds up to heat as it doesn’t melt or get forking runny.

I added two scallions, a handful of fresh basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon oregano,  1/2 teaspoon fresh grated black pepper, And 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt.

 

Then all ingredients got forking blended. Then they were topped on the polenta.

I used this Forking Gizmo that is like a giant pencil sharpener to make carrot curls. I cut up zucchini, tomatoes and radishes and just decorated away till I got this. I don’t recommend buying the gizmo I used as I also sliced up my Forking Finger in this contraption.

 

I cut up extra vegetables and seasoned them with oregano, basil, rosemary,  sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and a splash of extra virgin olive oil and placed them around the polenta and baked it off in the oven at 350 degrees for a forking half an hour.

You just might WoW your friends with polenta!

I picked up beautiful pickling cucumbers from my local farm and decided to make a few forking batches of pickles and thought lemongrass would be interesting and refreshing.

Ingredients

Cucumbers (I had two really forking big  cucumbers you might need 4-6) (the other two I made dill flavored)

1 bunch of Lemongrass ( remove dry skins and you use mostly from white end sliced in half long ways)

 

6 cloves garlic

About an inch and a half of Galanga Root cut in slices

About an inch and a half of Ginger Root cut in slices

One Thai Chili cut in half long ways

10 Kiffer Lime Leaves

3 Tablespoons Kosher Salt

3 Tablespoons Sugar

1 1/2 Cups White Vinegar

2 Cups water

Bring everything (except the cucumbers) to a boil and then lower the heat let it cook maybe 10 minutes and let the liquid cool.

Once the liquid is cool you can pour it on to your sliced cucumbers in a sterilized container and put in your refrigerator.

 

The next day you can eat them and they will be very lemon grassy. If you can wait three days more of the other flavors do come out.

The Refrigerator Lemongrass Pickles are light and refreshing! They are forking easy to make and are just right for a hot summer day!

 

I thought the best way to use this Fat Free Farmer Cheese would be to make Forking Blintzes or Crepes. I also thought a tasty combination would be to stuff the Cheese Blintzes (or Crepes) with Caramelized Banana Peppers and Onions that I already had prepared. My Banana Peppers were so FORKING hot I tamed them down with a little bit of sugar with a little bit of salt. They had a mostly spicy-sweet thing going on.

A blintz is a thin pancake that is rolled around sweet or savory filling.  Blintzes and Crepes are forking easy and quick to make anyone can do this.

Ingredients for Blintzes or Crepes Dough to make 6 or 7 of them

2 Extra Large Eggs Beaten

1/2 Cup Water

3 Tablespoons Melted Butter

1 Tablespoon Greek Yogurt

Small splash of Vanilla maybe 1/8 teaspoon

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1/4 teaspoon of Kosher Salt

Canola Spray and maybe a tablespoon more butter for frying the stuffed Blintzes.

You will need filling I used about 6 ounces of Farmer Cheese and about 6 ounces of Caramelized Banana Peppers & Onions that already had sugar and some salt in them.  I didn’t think the farmers cheese needed any seasoning with that Flavor BOMB Pepper Mixture. It sort of went good against the cool mild cheese but normally you’d want to spice or sweeten the forking cheese up.

I started by mixing the sugar with the melted butter and then added the egg and mixed till smooth. I mixed in dry about 1/2 till smooth and then the rest till smooth.

My small fry pan was set on a little past medium heat and was sprayed with canola oil.

I covered my pan with a foil top and it took very little time to cook and all the Crepes slid out easy.

I laid out all the crepes and put almost an ounce of cigar shaped farmer cheese in each one and then added almost the same amount of Caramelized Banana Peppers & Onions to each.

I rolled up the bottom, then rolled in the sides and continued rolling till I had a Blintze Shape.

Then I fried on that just past medium heat.  My pan was sprayed with canola oil and had a small pat of butter. This went very quick. Since these are savory Blintzes a little Salt and Pepper might be nice to finish them up.

Forking Spicy Peppers with a cool creamy Cheese are the Whey to go!

 

 

I had a bunch of forking Pickled Beets and Pickled Onions and thought I could make tasty Falafels out of them and I forking did! This is a very original  recipe I whipped up. The pickling of the beets and onions just gives these beet falafels another dimension. These falafels are a forking rainbow of flavor in your mouth. The Falafels came out really Forking Delicious! They got everything going on, tangy, sweet, sour, spicy and a little bit of crisp on the outside. Sort of meaty on the inside.

Set oven to 350 degrees you will need oiled pans for baking the falafels.

Ingredients

3 cups of your home made pickled beets

1 cup of your thinly sliced onion that you already pickled in with the beets

2 – 15.5 oz. Cans of Chickpeas drained and rinsed

1/2 cup of the liquid from the pickled beets

1 1/2 Cup Matzo Meal

2 Extra Large Eggs

2 Tablespoons Tahini

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Coriander

2 Cloves Garlic Minced

Handful of Chopped Parsley or Cilantro or a mix of both

1/2 teaspoon of Kosher or Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper

Using blender of any kind start with a chickpeas and beet liquid and then add beets, matzo meal, onions, eggs and blend well.

Now add remaining ingredients and by now you can just stir them in.

Roll into patty shapes on to oiled pans.

Bake at 350 degrees till done.  I did them filling the oven for 15 minutes and turned them over and did another 10 minutes making it 25 minutes total.

Now make Pink Horseradish Dill Cream

About 2 cups Nonfat Greek Yogurt

About 2 Tablespoons Light Mayo

3 inches of Armenian Cucumber grated (skin and seeds removed)

About 1 tablespoon Horseradish

2 teaspoons dried dill

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Pickled Beet Liquid

Mix and chill

This recipe is a keeper! These came out really Forking Good!

Keftedes (Kef-teh-des) are usually Meatballs seasoned with Greek style Seasonings and Feta Cheese.  Vegetarian Keftedes are popular too. Often they are made with carrots, I like Parsnips more than carrots since they have more flavor and are less watery so I made mine with parsnips. I also cut some fat out by baking the Keftedes instead of frying and by using Fat Free Cottage Cheese instead of Feta.

Ingredients for Keftedes

3 Cups Shreaded Parsnips

1 handful of chopped fresh Parsley

1/2 a shredded Sweet Onion

16 oz. Package of Fat Free Cottage Cheese Whipped till smooth

2 eggs (crack them into your cottage and just whip them in)

4 slices of lite White Bread ( Frozen and Chop into the smallest cubes you can)

1 teaspoon dried mint

1/2 teaspoon dried dill (fresh herbs should be better but I used what I had at home)

Fresh ground Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1 Cup Whole Wheat Panko Bread Crumbs

3 Tablespoons Michael Psilakis Gyro Slider Spice  Recipe* It seems to compliment the Keftedes well and gives another layer of flavor. Or just add salt and pepper to crumbs till tasty. Will post Michael Psilakis recipe after the Keftedes.

Oven is set at 350 degrees

Shredded Parsnips, Onion, and Chopped Parsley.

Combined with the Cottage Cheese, Eggs and Lite White Bread, Mint, Dill, Salt, and Pepper.

Roll into a meatball shape about the size of a walnut and light coat it in your seasoned crumbs.

I wound up with 30 and baked them at 350 degree oven for 15 minutes as soon as they came out I generously salt and peppered them and served them with a low fat Tsatziki Sauce.

 

Michael Psilakis Gyro Slider Spice

12 Tablespoons Cumin

2 Tablespoons Coriander

8 Tablespoons Mustard Seed

2 1/2 teaspoons Cloves

2 Tablespoons Black Cardamon ( there is no substitute for black cardamon and DON’T use green it’s not the same)

4 Tablespoons Fennel

2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

This seasoning is delicious to coat a burger with  but will need Salt and Pepper.

Low Fat Tsatziki

About 3 inches of Armenian Cucumber pealed, seeds removed and grated.

About 2 Tablespoons of my  Slow Roasted Garlic Spread (see recipe under recipes)

About 1/4 of large sweet Onion Grated

About 2 Tablespoons of Dried Dill

Slightly over 1/2 Cup of Non Fat Greek Yogurt

Juice of one small lemon

Fresh Ground Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper.

 

 

I took Thomas Keller’s Recipe for Lentils Vinaigrette and made some substitutions and minor additions.

The ingredients I used are

2 lbs Black Beluga Lentils

2 branches of fresh Bay Leaves

1 head of garlic sliced in half

1 parsnip cut in half ( I believe the recipe says to use carrot but I like the flavor of parsnips so I used parsnip)

about a teaspoon of dried Thyme (sprays of Thyme are used in the real recipe but I didn’t have any that day)

1 large Sweet Onion (one half diced the other 1/2 whole)

3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar (You don’t use all three tables at the same time)

2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

Some Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1 1/2 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

About a Cup of sliced Scallion

2 carrots shredded (my addition I think they play well against the parsnip flavor)

About a handful of fresh chopped parsley

Take your Lentils, Onion, Parsnip, Garlic, Bay leaves, Thyme, and Bring to Boil and then cover and simmer till done. (about 20 minutes)

This is important

When the lentils are done discard the onion, parsnip, garlic and bay leaves. NOW ADD 2 Tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar, your two teaspoons of salt and some fresh ground black pepper and let sit and get cool. This is Thomas Keller’s method sort of but not exact I note.

Now make the Vinaigrette!

I find it easiest to start with your 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Dijon and slowly add your 1/4 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and after that’s emulsified slowly add your 1 Tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar and add to your cooled lentils.

Now add your Carrot, Onion, Scallion, and Parsley to the lentils.

Mix and your done. You can vary the recipe as much as you like. You might want it saucier and might want to double up on the vinaigrette but I like it drier. Last time I made this I used Regular Lentils and with my Three Hour Onions Recipe that you can find under recipes and it tasted very good that way warm. (I didn’t add all the raw onions and used the three hour onions and scallions)

A Timbale is hard to describe. It’s layers of food that might  be or include a combination of Pasta, Custard, Rice, Risotto, Potatoes, Eggs, Cheese, Meat, and Vegetables held together with egg, also usually baked in a pan, (but sometimes Chilled or steamed) and is traditionally covered with bread crumbs. Sometimes it’s made in a pan for multiple servings and sometimes it made in individual pans.

I’ve made Timbales a few times and always make them different. This Time my Timbale was made of Zucchini, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Greens, Cheeses, Spelt Pasta, Eggs, Butter and Whole Wheat Panko Bread Crumbs.

I set my oven to 375 degrees. I buttered and crumbed my Springform Pan.

 

I patted bottom of pan with seasoned Zucchini mixed with Some Mozzarella Cheese,one beaten egg and lined the sides of pan with broiled and seasoned Eggplant.

 

I topped that with Seasoned Provolone Cheese.

Then I added Seasoned Tomatoes.

Next came my mixture of Seasoned Ricotta, Mozzarella, Provolone, Hard Cheese, Egg and Spelt Pasta.

 

More Seasoned Provolone.

 

Then I added the seasoned Seasoned Greens mixed with cheese Mixture and then a layer of the Zucchini Mixture.

T

 

Topped that with Whole Wheat Panko Bread Crumbs.

 

Baked at 375 for 90 Minutes.